Fast food employees

GeneMO

GeneMO

Member
Location
Central Missouri
So they are protesting and wanting $15 and hour. Fine if they could prove they were worth it.

I was in Arbys yesterday. The little clerk didn't greet me, nothing. I gave her my order, very simple order, they were not busy at all. I got my order fine, but the clerk was so "detached" Didn't thank me, would only grunt when I thanked her. Wouldn't make eye contact, acted so lethargic, just a slug.

If I acted that way my dad would have had my hide. We worked our butt off on the farm and moved at a very fast walk or ran!!! No slacking off. My dad always taught me to hold my head up, square my shoulders up and act like I was on a mission. I was taught "yes sir" "yes maam", please and thank you.

Kids who are taught well and polite now days are few and far between, but they sure stand out when you run into them.

My rant for the day.

Gene
 

Gotta say, it's not only the fast food jobs, some cashiers, etc. all over have that attitude. I'm often the one saying thanks, etc. I really am happy to see the many others who give good service, they are still out there, and come in all ages. I worked at a Taco Bell for a couple of weeks a looong time ago, and I was very polite and customer oriented. I was taught by my parents also, manners, etc.
 
$15.00 per hour?.
To learn to flip burgers.
I'm not paying some kid fifteen bucks an hour to learn to mow my lawn.
This is the reason for illegals, they work for half that.
 
GeneMO said:
So they are protesting and wanting $15 and hour. Fine if they could prove they were worth it.

I was in Arbys yesterday. The little clerk didn't greet me, nothing. I gave her my order, very simple order, they were not busy at all. I got my order fine, but the clerk was so "detached" Didn't thank me, would only grunt when I thanked her. Wouldn't make eye contact, acted so lethargic, just a slug.

If I acted that way my dad would have had my hide. We worked our butt off on the farm and moved at a very fast walk or ran!!! No slacking off. My dad always taught me to hold my head up, square my shoulders up and act like I was on a mission. I was taught "yes sir" "yes maam", please and thank you.

Kids who are taught well and polite now days are few and far between, but they sure stand out when you run into them.

My rant for the day.

Gene
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I think the minimum wage should match the cost to rent a decent place to live. As far as poor, customer service, I don't believe a lot of children are brought up to respect people. Plus look at what they hear from their elders, look what they see on tv. If I was a teen/young today, I think I would be scared.

Teens can get a bad wrap too, like stereotyping, all young people have no respect etc. Lots of things to discuss about your topic, good one it is too;)
 
The talk seems to be about paying fast food employees a fair wage. I see nothing wrong with that.
Depending on where one lives the cost of accommodation for a small apartment or room can be horrendously high, and so as was said the wages should,in those areas,be high enough to cover the the cost of living.
As for complaining about the service,maybe the young (or older) person behind the counter was not having the best of days, and we all have those days.
They put up with a lot for the meager pay check they receive.
I have been in line ups at fast food outlets when people are tutting and complaining because the line is not moving fast enough, even though the staff are doing their best. so it swings both ways.
I expect most of us have had children or grandchildren who's first entry level job was a fast food chain.
My daughter's first ever job was working at a Wendys restaurant. She hated it when they made her wear the pig tailed red wig and stand outside trying to attract customers :)
Give them a break
 
I think their attitude is transferred over from their customers..Dealing with the public on a daily basis is not an easy task..JMHO
 
I agree with Vardon that it's necessary to consider both sides.

If you get your food, and it's appropriately hot/cold, and it's what you ordered, and nobody spat in it, then by today's standards you're batting .1000. Anything beyond that - smiles, "have a nice day"'s, genuflections, etc. isn't really what you ordered.

Society has changed, or at least the society we used to know has changed. No use having expectations anymore, because you'll only be disappointed.
 
All the talk is about raising the minimum wage. Hardly anyone still gets the minimum wage who has been on the job for a year. Minimum wage is a starting wage for inexperienced employees. Employees who stay with a company get raises over the years as they gain experience.

Each employer had only a certain amount of money to pay in wages. If they are forced to pay that money to the young, inexperienced, employees, the older employees will not get a raise. To stay in business employers may have to cut all employees back to the new minimum wage.

Some people just don't get it.
 
GeneMO said:
So they are protesting and wanting $15 and hour. Fine if they could prove they were worth it.

I was in Arbys yesterday. The little clerk didn't greet me, nothing. I gave her my order, very simple order, they were not busy at all. I got my order fine, but the clerk was so "detached" Didn't thank me, would only grunt when I thanked her. Wouldn't make eye contact, acted so lethargic, just a slug.

If I acted that way my dad would have had my hide. We worked our butt off on the farm and moved at a very fast walk or ran!!! No slacking off. My dad always taught me to hold my head up, square my shoulders up and act like I was on a mission. I was taught "yes sir" "yes maam", please and thank you.

Kids who are taught well and polite now days are few and far between, but they sure stand out when you run into them.

My rant for the day.

Gene
Click to expand...


I wonder if that clerk was on top of her game? Maybe something terrible had happened in her personal life and because she needed a paycheck she forced herself to go to work anyway. I remember when I was young, I worked as a switchboard operator in a brokerage house and one evening my little dog was hit by a car and died in my arms. I dragged myself to work the next day but I was a wreck to the point where I was finally sent home by my supervisor because I was just not coping.

Maybe we shouldn't automatically assume that people are being deliberately rude when they don't perform to the standards that we expect.

And like someone else said, clerks at those kinds of jobs put up with a lot from rotten customers. My daughter who was brought up very well and was always a gentle, helpful person, worked in the local theatre behind the food counter for about a year and some of the truly awful snot bags she had to deal with! I remember picking her up from work one night and she was still trying to get over the harassment that was dished out to her by one of those awful individuals because the theatre didn't have the exact product, served as preferred by that guy.

We should be giving the same kind of respect to people who only receive minimum wages as we would give to those who are well paid. They aren't less human or have less feelings because their skill set is different, their job less 'important' or their education levels lower.
 
rkunsaw said:
All the talk is about raising the minimum wage. Hardly anyone still gets the minimum wage who has been on the job for a year. Minimum wage is a starting wage for inexperienced employees. Employees who stay with a company get raises over the years as they gain experience.

Each employer had only a certain amount of money to pay in wages. If they are forced to pay that money to the young, inexperienced, employees, the older employees will not get a raise. To stay in business employers may have to cut all employees back to the new minimum wage.

Some people just don't get it.
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So then you don't have a problem with the government having to support those minimum wage workers with support benefits like food stamps, etc. Comes out of taxpayer dollars instead of corporate bottom lines, that's okay? Isn't that one of the accusations being levelled at Walmart? That their employees are having to access assistance in order to survive because Walmart refuses to pay a living wage?
 
Debby said:
I wonder if that clerk was on top of her game? Maybe something terrible had happened in her personal life and because she needed a paycheck she forced herself to go to work anyway. I remember when I was young, I worked as a switchboard operator in a brokerage house and one evening my little dog was hit by a car and died in my arms. I dragged myself to work the next day but I was a wreck to the point where I was finally sent home by my supervisor because I was just not coping.

Maybe we shouldn't automatically assume that people are being deliberately rude when they don't perform to the standards that we expect.

And like someone else said, clerks at those kinds of jobs put up with a lot from rotten customers. My daughter who was brought up very well and was always a gentle, helpful person, worked in the local theatre behind the food counter for about a year and some of the truly awful snot bags she had to deal with! I remember picking her up from work one night and she was still trying to get over the harassment that was dished out to her by one of those awful individuals because the theatre didn't have the exact product, served as preferred by that guy.

We should be giving the same kind of respect to people who only receive minimum wages as we would give to those who are well paid. They aren't less human or have less feelings because their skill set is different, their job less 'important' or their education levels lower.
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I agree with this Debby. I've never encountered the kinds of disrespect from clerks some are talking about. I always treat those waiting on me with respect and I always get the same in return.
 
A lot of those "fast food" employees are also trying to go to school fulltime. I went fulltime for a term without working and I barely kept up. Yes, I'm older but they heep a years worth of book on you in 3 months. Also, many fast food employees are retirees, and yes, sometimes untrained, but because they are left with little in there old age, they have to work now. Some are doing it for something to do I imagine.

I appreciate your input RK because I can understand starting out at minimum wage for someone untrained, but yet if that person is trying to support themselves, it's either a living wage or homeless shelter. Even rooms around here rent for at least 3-400 dollars a month, not including food to eat, gas money, or bus-fare to work.

Oh one more thing is the hours, somehow companies manage to give people just under the amount of hours that would gain them some benefits. It's awful up here in Oregon, even with our minimum wage being up near 10 bucks an hour.
 
nwlady said:
A lot of those "fast food" employees are also trying to go to school fulltime. I went fulltime for a term without working and I barely kept up. Yes, I'm older but they heep a years worth of book on you in 3 months. Also, many fast food employees are retirees, and yes, sometimes untrained, but because they are left with little in there old age, they have to work now. Some are doing it for something to do I imagine.

I appreciate your input RK because I can understand starting out at minimum wage for someone untrained, but yet if that person is trying to support themselves, it's either a living wage or homeless shelter. Even rooms around here rent for at least 3-400 dollars a month, not including food to eat, gas money, or bus-fare to work.

Oh one more thing is the hours, somehow companies manage to give people just under the amount of hours that would gain them some benefits. It's awful up here in Oregon, even with our minimum wage being up near 10 bucks an hour.
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I agree....there are far too many trying to live on minimum wage.
 
First time I ever got paid for work. I was 14. I had always worked on the farm, never had time for any off farm work. A neighbor needed a tractor driver to help him during silo filling. He asked me. No mention was made of wages. I didn't ask, he didn't offer a figure. I worked my butt off from daylight to dark, doing the same job as the men. Worked two full days About a week later the neighbor drove up and handed me two $20 bills. $20 for each full days work, probably 10 hour days. Oh, and I had just had a run it with yellow jackets the day before. About 10 stings near my ankle, could hardly get my work boot on to go work that first day, but I just plugged away.

I was tickled to death. Thought it was more than fair. $2 an hour I am guessing. Good money.

Gene
 
The work ethic (good) is hard to find nowadays. I agree some don't deserve a decent wage, or seem not to. But it's hard to tell if the wage wasn't decent maybe the work would be. I don't know, I was taught to work, and work hard no matter the pay, or the way I was treated.
 
Then of course you run into the argument that fast-food jobs and their ilk were never meant to be living-wage jobs ... much like the argument with Social Security ...
 
Yes, you're so right. Social Security needed to be called something else if it wasn't to make people financially secure. A job is a job but these fast-food places sprang up like weeds and a person can work their way up, even have their own franchise. I lived in that ritzy neighborhood in Roseburg and one neighbor managed 2 McDonalds and owned that million dollar house. I asked him, he worked his way up!
 
It's unfortunate that there are fast food employes and U.S. military personnel that bust their tail but don't earn enough to cover basic living expenses without some kind of public assistance.

It's a case of the "haves" vs the "have-nots", the 47% that Mitt Romney referred to...
 
tnthomas said:
It's unfortunate that there are fast food employes and U.S. military personnel that bust their tail but don't earn enough to cover basic living expenses without some kind of public assistance.

It's a case of the "haves" vs the "have-nots", the 47% that Mitt Romney referred to...
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That's another thing that makes me want to puke, our military getting payed so little. I think it's an outrage some pinhead politician can sit up there and make decisions that effect our guys and gals and live in mansions not just while in office, but the whole rest of their life.

And to change the subject, that little dog of yours is the type I am hoping for, wired haired terrier type;)
 
Thanks for that Dame, really amazing numbers hey. I can guess at the 3rd World rent/housing available, but like take Oregon, if average 2 bedroom apt. or a house rents from say 6-1000 a month, and you make 10 bucks an hour, but you only get 32 hours a week, if you are lucky, in a minimum wage job. 1280 a month, minus taxes, which maybe leaves 1000. I was taught not to spend over 30% on housing. Well you can see a person can't afford a 2 bedroom if they are a family. If single, you are very lucky to find an apt for 500, unless the occasional studio is available at maybe 400 including utilities, way rare.

Craigs List has oodles of places, but beware of slum lords. I don't know about other States, but Oregons got a nice high min. wage, if you live at home with your folks and don't need to pay rent.

I also meant to mention 2 incomes are necessary for young couples. Some people get on a mother for not staying home with her kids but how can she. Thomas is right, haves, and have nots.
 
SifuPhil said:
Then of course you run into the argument that fast-food jobs and their ilk were never meant to be living-wage jobs ... much like the argument with Social Security ...
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I think these days, that argument just doesn't work. In the province I live in, it isn't unusual at all to see 65 year olds working full time flipping burgers at McDonalds or cashiering at Walmart because they can't afford to retire. The concept you mention works if the community is vibrant enough that only the teenagers are taking those jobs and then you could consider them entry level jobs. But in a depressed area it's all ages who are forced to accept those minimum wage jobs and they need to live too.
 

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